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Eric Mackay Yeoman
Eric Mackay Yeoman (October 9, 1885 - February 3, 1909) was a Canadian poet, journalist, and prose author.Andrea Dennis, Eric Mckay Yeoman, New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia, Spring 2010. Web, Feb. 19, 2017. Life Yeoman was born in Newcastle, New Brunswick, the eldest of 4 children (3 sons and a daughter) of Elizabeth L. (Mackay) and James Yeoman. His father, a bank manager, died when Eric was 5. Their mother took the family to Halifax where they stayed initiallywith her mother; and then, after her death, with her sister Catherine and brother-in-law, John James Stuart, editor of the Halifax Herald. Yeoman grew up in Halifax, and attending local schools and graduating from Halifax Academy. In 1903 he entered Dalhousie University, where he was still listed as a student in the 1907-1908 year. He published his earliest poem, "The Contact", in The Canadian magazine in 1907, when he was 22. Over the next 3 years, that magazine would publish 15 of his poems (as well as 2 prose pieces). Yeoman died suddenly, early in 1909, of brain fever. Writing Dictionary of Canadian Biography: "With the advent of modernist verse in Canada, Yeoman’s work was forgotten. Now that a more sympathetic approach has been taken to the development of Canadian poetry in the period from 1890 to 1910, it is likely that Yeoman’s work can be once again evaluated. The dark side of late-Victorian poets like William Wilfred Campbell is being explored, with the result that the sombre tones of Yeoman’s imagination can be better appreciated and studied as a distinct expression of a mystical and transcendental lyricism. While his poetry adheres to conventions tied to that kind of lyric sensibility, it is remarkable for its inventive force within the bounds of the accepted idiom of the day. Its power and originality lie not only in its deft handling of language but also in a clairvoyant and translucent immediacy of perception of individual identity and fate. The brevity of Yeoman’s career or an incredulous response to his precocity should not lead readers of his poetry to continue to discount his reputation among his contemporaries."Kenneth A. MacKinnon, “Yeoman, Eric Mackay,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography vol. 13, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. Web, Feb. 19, 2017. Recognition His last published poem in The Canadian, "Sing Low, Wild Bird," was widely circulated, appearing in the Halifax Herald and the anthologies A Wreath of Canadian Song, and Songs of the Maritimes. Canadian poet John Mortimer’s paid tribute to him with a poem, “To E.M. Yeoman,” published in the January 1910 Canadian Magazine. His Poems – including the 15 Canadian pieces and an unpublished sonnet sequence – were collected and published posthumously in 1910, with an introduction by Canadian Magazine editor Newton McFaul MacTavish.Kenneth A. MacKinnon, “Yeoman, Eric Mackay,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography vol. 13, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. Web, Feb. 19, 2017. William Wilfred Campbell included his poem "To a Violet" in the Oxford Book of Canadian Verse.Eric Mackay Yeoman (1885-1909) "To a Violet," Oxford Book of Canadian Verse, Toronto & New York: Oxford University Press, 1913. Bartleby.com, Web, Feb. 19, 2017. Publications *''Poems''. Toronto: privately published, 1910.Search results = au:Eric Mackay Yeoman, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Feb. 19, 2017. See also *Sonneters *List of Canadian poets *Timeline of Canadian poetry References External links ;Poems *"To a Violet" ;Books *Eric Mackay Yeomans sic at Amazon.com ;About *Eric Mckay Yeoman at the New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia *Yeoman, Eric Mackay in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Confederation Poets Category:1885 births Category:1909 deaths Category:20th-century poets Category:Canadian poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Poets who died before 30 Category:Sonneteers